


Love in Deadly Places

by Spunky0ne



Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 06:49:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13358811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spunky0ne/pseuds/Spunky0ne
Summary: As Ywach destroys Muken, Aizen escapes and finds a surprisingly alive Gin in the wreckage. Though planning to kill Gin, Aizen is intrigued to discover what Kurotsuchi was doing to his former comrade, and he decides to keep Gin alive to continue the experiment. Trapped with Aizen in the living world, Gin is stunned at what happens between them.





	1. Old Enemies

_It's cold..._

_always so cold._

_Almost silent._

_Lonely._

_It doesn't feel good to be powerless._

_But these things are only temporary._

_For those who travel the cycle of life, twenty thousand years is a long time. But to a man bound to the hougyoku, twenty thousand years is nothing. I breathe in and out. My heart beats. It passes the time. And although being ice cold and alone is a bother, I am not without hope. In fact, I know there is no reason to despair. The time will come when I will be unbound and freed._

_Someday._

A deep rumble ran through the cellblock, causing ominous cracking sounds in the rock walls and ceiling, making bits break away and drop, some striking the bound Aizen lightly as they fell. His one uncovered brown eye rotated to observe the fallen pieces and his lips smiled.

"I see," he said softly, "You have made your move, haven't you? I think we know what comes next."

The sound of panicked voices trickled in from outside of his cell, then he heard the sounds of running feet and the lift that would carry the fleeing guards to the surface.

_Fools. He is only going to kill you. He is on his way here, and he has but to look in your direction and you are lost. But he can't hurt me. He can't kill me. He can't steal my soul when I die, because I simply won't die. So, he will ask. He will ask and I..._

His thoughts flitted away as heavier footsteps sounded, approaching his door and pausing. A low, echoing click sounded, then the door creaked open to reveal the tall, rakishly smiling form of Ywach. He moved into position in front of the heavily bound shinigami and smiled down at him.

"Aizen Sousuke."

"Ywach."

"The attack is underway, and I come to ask you to join me now. You refused before, when you were unsure as to how I would accomplish my goals. As you see, I am capable of doing everything I claimed. Come with me now."

A wicked smirk overtook Aizen's lips and he laughed softly.

"No."

Ywach moved closer, his eyes narrowing and his fingertips reaching out, then sliding down Aizen's partially covered face.

"You have to realize I am more powerful than you, and that I will find the way to deprive you of that stone you created. You may think you have protected yourself by bonding with the hougyoku, but you are not safe, Aizen Sousuke. If you defy me, you will only be as dead as all of the ones out there. You feel it, don't you? All of them...taichous, fukutaichous, everyone down to the last unseated officer, and all of the unskilled troops. All of them will fall at the feet of my sternritters. That is a guarantee. I go next to do what you could not."

"Oh?" Aizen queried curiously.

"I am going to kill Yamamoto."

"Are you, now?" Aizen purred softly, "I see."

"Would you like to watch?"

"No, I am comfortable here, thank you."

"Very well," Ywach said, showing no sign of anger, "Stay here and wait for the end, if you like. I will come back for you."

He leaned forward and offered the man an affectionate kiss on the partially leatherbound cheek.

"You are a fascinating man, Aizen Sousuke. I look forward to the years we will have together after my conquest of our worlds."

Aizen gazed back at him quietly, offering no reply. Ywach let out a frustrated breath and turned away.

"I told you there was no shinigami alive that could do what I will do. You will see. In the end, you too will belong to me. You are only delaying the inevitable with your stubbornness. But I tire of playing with you. Soon enough, you will kneel at my feet with the survivors and beg for my favor. Do not worry. I will not forget you then, Sousuke."

Aizen watched in silence as the leader of the quincies walked out of his cell, leaving the door carelessly open and killing everyone in his path as he left.

"No shinigami alive can do what you will, you say?" Aizen breathed sedately, "I told you before, I am no shinigami. Even sealed, the hougyoku will carry me higher, and when I subjugate it..."

His thoughts paused and his eye rotated about as a deep rumble went through the depths of the shinigami prison. The sound rose slowly into a heavy, pounding roar and blue light flooded the area, instantly incinerating everything around him.

So, you wish to make a statement, Aizen thought, smiling as the stone enclosure, the fallen bodies, everything down to his leather and metal bindings burned away and the column of blue light swallowed him, If I was a simple shinigami, your power would have devoured me too. But you have only tasted me, and you know you cannot claim me. How kind of you to open the door for me. I will show you the same courtesy when I destroy you for underestimating me.

He stretched his aching arms and legs, slowly rising, then swaying for a moment as he adjusted to his returned freedom. His eyes scanned the hollowed out area around him and the wreckage of the damaged prison, seeking the best way out. He found a workable pathway and started along it, marveling at the sharp contrast between the cleanly swept and emptied place that had been his cell, and the rest of the prison that Ywach had reduced to near ruins.

_I am surprised he didn't just vaporize the entire place, but then, he is not yet at full power, which is why he was so accommodating. He won't be that way when he returns. He will be a monster. But he will find a more powerful one waiting for him._

_Yes, he will be surprised._

He turned his full attention to escape, now that Ywach's eyes were turned towards the captain commander. Picking his way carefully through the debris, he focused on the grey light filtering in and worked his way upwards. A long hallway opened up before him, surprising him with how well it had endured the devastating assault on the prison. He followed it to the end and started to open the door there, then paused as a low, pained groan sounded somewhere nearby.

It wasn't the sound, itself, but its familiarity that made him pause and listen more closely. Another sound of pain followed, and it only confirmed what Aizen's stunned mind had first registered. His reduced senses picked up a flicker of life in the tumble of wreckage, off to one side. The former taichou headed in that direction and began lifting away some of the debris.

"Who's there?" panted a male voice that made Aizen smile wickedly.

"Hold still," he told the trapped shinigami, "I will get you out."

At the sound of his voice, he heard a shocked inhale, then the still partially buried person began to struggle madly.

"Get away from me!" he gasped, pushing away at Aizen's hands.

Aizen's arm curled around the trapped man's upper body, and he hauled him out of the mess of stone and steel.

"Stop! Let me go!"

Aizen laughed, setting his captive down and ruffling the man's silver hair with his fingers.

"There now. That's better, isn't it, Gin?"

Ice blue eyes glared up at him defiantly and Gin's hands clenched.

"How did I get here?" Gin demanded, "Where are we? I thought you...!"

"You thought what?" Aizen asked, frowning.

"I thought that Kurosaki Ichigo...would have defeated you."

"But he did," Aizen explained, "You are sitting in the heart of Muken, or in a devastated section of it. And I am extremely curious to know, my friend, first how you survived and second, why you are here. I heard that your friend, Rangiku, had you buried in the Rukongai after I killed you. Yet, here you are. But you don't remember?"

Gin blinked slowly, taking in Aizen's disheveled appearance and the look of the wreckage that surrounded him.

"If this isn't from your battle with Ichigo, then what happened? Did you...?"

"Oh no, I was bound too tightly to escape, and was given twenty thousand years as sentence for my treachery."

"Then, who...?"

"Ywach."

The name alone brought a look of horror to Gin's already spooked eyes.

"You are beginning to wish you had stayed dead, ne?" Aizen chuckled.

"You're very jovial," Gin noted, calming slightly, "Are you going to finish killing me now?"

"I am more curious why they saved you. You say you don't remember anything?"

"Only one thing," Gin said, looking down at his slightly shaking hands, "I heard that bastard, Kurotsuchi's voice saying that I deserved a fate worse than death, and he was pleased to give me that. I don't remember anything else at all."

"We should..."

Aizen paused as Gin made a sound of distress and sank the rest of the way to the stone floor.

"Ah. I suppose I will have to search for clues alone then. Rest a bit. We'll have more time to catch up later."

He listened for a moment to the sounds of raging battle that echoed in the distance, then turned his attention to the area where he had found Gin trapped. A quick search uncovered a scattering of papers, but it was too dark to read them properly, so he shoved them into his clothes and made his way back to his unconscious colleague.

"I would simply kill you and leave you behind, but I am very, very curious as to what exactly Kurotsuchi Mayuri was doing with you, here in Muken. He is a dastardly man, but his intelligence is near that of Urahara Kisuke's. If he was experimenting on you, there must have been a compelling reason. I am interested in discovering that."

He gave Gin's unresponsive form a chilling smile.

"When I have done that, there will be time to kill you much more slowly, my friend. For some reason, your betrayal stings quite deeply, even though I knew it was coming. I thought running you through and tearing your body apart would cure me of that feeling, but it really hasn't. I do wonder what will...and why I still care. You were interesting, but you were only a bug I squashed. Someone put the pieces of you back together, but that is easily enough undone."

He walked back to Gin and lifted his limp body, then continued out the door and up into the less damaged section of the prison. The guard posts stood abandoned and prisoners within the still locked cells, banged on the doors urgently. Aizen walked blithely past, ignoring them as he rose upward, then exited the deserted compound.

"Where are you taking me?" Gin moaned, only partially cognizant.

"I have a place in the living world, if you can open a senkaimon. My powers are still sealed. And I don't suppose you will want to...?"

He paused, looking on in surprise as Gin's fingertips touched his wrist and returned power flooded Aizen's body.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, looking down into Gin's hazy eyes.

"I know you're going to kill me when you have whatever it is you want from me," the silver haired man surmised, "But right now, we are both fugitives. It makes sense to have one of us be able to defend us."

"I did notice that although you have your powers, likely because they didn't think you a threat while unconscious, your reiatsu is dangerously weak. But there will be time to rest and eat when we arrive at the house in the living world. In any case, thank you...although I notice that you didn't also release the hougyoku."

"The seal is too strong. The one on you was simpler."

"Hmmm."

"You don't believe me?" Gin asked, blinking dizzily.

"You have lied to me before."

"Touchè," Gin chuckled wearily, "But I really don't know how to get that one off, not that I would if I did know."

"Very well, I will be thankful for small favors, but let us go. A few more minutes and either the soldats will start showing up here or shingami forces will begin counting their losses, if any of them are still alive."

"I know you hate us all," Gin sighed, "but don't you feel anything at all about what that guy is doing?"

"I am annoyed."

"Oh?"

"There is no need to be so messy and cause so much unnecessary suffering. As you, yourself, demonstrated so capably, revenge is best served swiftly and cleanly, with no warning, so that the person dies quickly and in full knowledge of just who has undone them."

"Sousuke..."

"It was a brilliant move, Gin. It just didn't work," Aizen said, smiling at him, "But it appears I didn't do a capable job of killing you either. Well, that or Kurotsuchi was very determined that you should live."

Gin said nothing more, but only looked back at him quietly. He started to speak, but then felt an odd twinge in his midsection and slid a hand down to rub the area. His breath caught as his fingertips encountered an odd rounding on his lower abdomen.

"Wh-what...?"

"Gin?" Aizen mused, gazing at the other man as curiosity gave way to amazement, then to shock and terror.

"What is this?" Gin panted, staggering back and nearly losing his balance, "What did that bastard do to me?"

Aizen's flash step sounded suddenly and a shock of kido dropped Gin easily back into his arms.

"We will have to discuss this later," Aizen said brusquely, "We need to get out of Soul Society. Things are falling apart here. We will figure this out when we reach my house in the living world. I must say, Gin, you have me far too curious to kill you now. I am very interested to know what Kurotsuchi Mayuri was doing to you. You looked ready to jump out of your skin. I don't think I've ever seen you that scared...not since I killed you."

He laughed softly as the senkaimon opened in front of him, then stepped inside and glanced briefly back over his shoulder.

"Yamamoto, Byakuya and Kenpachi all down?" he mused, "You are a monster, Ywach. But you will find very soon that a monster can never match...a pure demon."


	2. The Chamber

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizen and Gin begin to understand what Kurotsuchi has done to Gin.

_What were you up to, Kurotsuchi Mayuri?_ Aizen wondered, leaning over Gin's unconscious body and opening his yukata to expose his former colleague's slightly rounded abdomen.

His eyes blinked slowly and he studied the area closely, then reached over and picked up the papers he had retrieved from the wreckage of Muken.

_Unfortunately, a number of pages were lost. Enough so that, although I know that the chamber in Gin's body was meant to grow something, most likely a soul, it isn't clear what kind of soul would be grown there. It is unfortunate that with the war raging in the Seireitei, it won't be so easy to go back and search the twelfth division and the prison for answers. Ah well...anything that crazed scientist can dream up, I can understand._

He laid his hands on Gin's abdomen, focusing deeply and releasing his reiatsu to sink under the pale flesh and wrap around the mysterious device. He was immediately fascinated at the complexity, the light but sturdy materials used, carefully balanced so as not to disrupt the systems of the soul they were placed in. The chamber had the look of a womb and appeared to have attachments that drew reiatsu from the host.

To bind with whatever else fills the chamber, Aizen surmised, probably so that his body won't reject the implanted chamber and whatever it holds. Also, some of the connections seem like they might draw reiatsu to support and protect the contents of the chamber. This is very clearly some kind of growth chamber, though I have never seen the like.

His fingers slid more intimately along Gin's flesh and as they did so, a memory invaded, distracting him from his efforts.

_"You have such lovely, white skin...so soft," he murmured into Gin's flushed ear as he ran his hand along his lover's soft, pale belly, then let it slide down between the slender white thighs that parted easily for him._

_He teased Gin's warm, responsive member, plundering his mouth hungrily. Gin's hands spread out on his lover's shoulders, then clenched as Aizen's fingers thrust and stretched the sensitive tissues around his dampened entrance._

_"O-oh! Ungh...ah...hah!" Gin panted unintelligibly, "S-sousuke!"_

_There was something deeply erotic about hearing Gin's voice lose its natural, slightly sarcastic edge and take on this unscripted, more passionate sound._

_"Sousuke!" he panted harder, raising his hips and writhing as Aizen found the sensitive nerves within him and stroked the area teasingly, "Ah!"_

_A lovely sheen of sweat broke out on his forehead and his eyes opened slightly, just enough that Aizen could see the hint of icy blue. The impact of meeting just that much of his lover's eyes was enough to make his cock harden painfully. It sent a warm throb of desire through his head and limbs and he abandoned all sense of playfulness. He positioned himself and entered Gin in a single, hard thrust, watching a mix of pain and rising heat erupt onto his lover's pale features._

_Barely giving Gin a moment to recover, he laced their fingers together and squeezed firmly as his heavy thrusts began. And even for having a slender and more delicate looking build, the silver-haired man was surprisingly vigorous in his response, raising his hips wantonly, grinding hard against the body on top of his and making the most lovely and erotic sounds Aizen's ears had ever heard._

"How disappointing that it was all just a machination," Aizen whispered, pushing the memory away and continuing his examination of Gin's limp body.

But even trying to ignore what he remembered couldn't quite filter out everything.

_He woke late at night to find Gin gone from their bed and standing alone on the balcony outside their room. He slid out of bed, leaving his yukata carelessly open as he approached his lover from behind and wrapped his arms around. He was surprised when Gin turned his head away quickly and he felt a shiver go through the silver-haired man's body._

_"Gin?"_

_He captured Gin's chin and turned his head back, freezing as the moonlight caught where a single tear was sliding down his pale cheek._

Aizen let out a skeptical breath.

"I wonder, my slippery friend, what that tear was...guilt, perhaps? A deception? I am not sure. But it doesn't matter. You ceased to matter to me a long time ago."

Somewhere in the house, a clock chimed the late hour and Aizen sighed.

"I suppose I should give this some time for reflection," he said quietly, "But, since I don't want you slipping away while I'm sleeping..."

He captured one thin wrist and started to bind it with kido. But as he began the enchantment, Gin's eyes opened wide and locked on his with a deeply hazed, blank looking stare.

"Gin?"

The silver-haired man said nothing to him. He only fixed his eyes on Aizen's, and flares of light erupted between the hougyoku in Aizen's muscular chest and the chamber in Gin's belly. Aizen's eyes flooded with the rising light and took on a haze as deep and profound as Gin's. He reeled, trying to maintain control, but felt it slip away completely as Gin lifted himself and kneeled in front of him. He watched dazedly as Aizen bared himself, then fell between his thighs, holding on with tightened hands as he sought his former lover's damp, thick erection. He wrapped his mouth around Aizen's engorged penis, rising and falling on its length and sucking almost desperately.

Aizen watched through unseeing eyes, hardening further in response to Gin's intense ministrations, his heart pounding and his desire for the silver-haired man swelling until he toppled Gin and plunged into his slender body thoughtlessly, thrusting mindlessly, while Gin writhed against him, as hungry for the contact as he was desperate to offer it. Neither man spoke a word as their coupling continued and swiftly reached its peak. Gin gasped as he felt Aizen's body stiffen and shudder, then an explosion of heat and light erupted all through his possessed body. The two groaned in surrender and collapsed haphazardly on the bed, still entangled in each others' bodies. They laid still for a time afterwards, still not speaking, nor even looking at each other as their bodies slowly recovered.

Several minutes later, Aizen exited Gin's body and abandoned the silver-haired man, retreating to his shower, where he quickly bathed, then dropped into his bed. Gin acted likewise, slipping into the shower and washing himself thoroughly before returning to his bed. In their separate rooms, the two men fell into a deep sleep, neither moving until well after the sun had risen the next morning.

Gin opened his eyes first, then groaned softly at the pain in his loins and abdomen. He looked under the covers and found himself naked. Looking closer, he found bruises on his inner thighs and a slight, sticky dribble that had leaked out of him as he slept. Anger flared in his insides.

"I see you haven't changed at all, Aizen Sousuke," he said, gripping at the sheets, "You knew I wouldn't give in to you anymore, so you just took what you wanted!"

He stiffened and his body shook with fury.

"Bastard!"

He abandoned the bed and grabbed his yukata from the nightstand, wrapping it quickly around his body and listening carefully at his bedroom door before slipping out into the hallway.

_You were stupid to bathe me and leave me unbound. Did you think I was too simple to realize you had raped me while I was unconscious? Damn you, Sousuke! ___

____

He fled to the door at the front of the house, pausing to look for any kind of security that might impede him or an alarm that might be tripped.

____

_How careless..._

____

He started to open the door, then stiffened as a firm hand pushed it closed again. Gin loosed a sound of distress and struggled wildly as Aizen's arm wrapped around his throat and a staying hand wrapped around one of his wrists.

____

"Let go of me, you bastard!" Gin seethed, a twinge of surprise going through him as he used a throb of kido meant to separate them and found it actually worked.

____

But a moment later, Aizen's powerful reiatsu swelled around the two, pressing in harshly on Gin until the silver-haired man struggled to breathe and his legs quivered beneath him.

____

"It would be unwise for you to go out there," Aizen reminded him in a warning tone, "You know what is going on, Gin. The quincies have begun their attack on Soul Society."

____

"I don't care!" Gin hissed furiously, "Anything and anyplace is better than staying here and being raped by you!"

____

Aizen frowned.

____

"Raped...by me?" he said, studying the silver-haired man more closely, "Gin, what are you talking about?"

____

"Don't think you can lie to me!" Gin snapped, "I was recently bathed and naked in my bed. Only you and I were in this house and when I woke, I had your semen running down my thigh! I never agreed to go to bed, or anywhere else with you! I unsealed your powers for you, and now, I only want for us to go our separate ways! I need to find Rangiku and..."

____

"No," Aizen said sternly, "There is no way that you are going to return to Soul Society right now. The quincies will destroy you."

____

"What do you care?" Gin demanded, "I don't belong to you! I am not going to stay here and be your prisoner or your sex slave! I am leaving!"

____

Gin gasped and panted harshly as Aizen's reiatsu tightened around him. He managed a staggering step, groaning with the effort of moving, but reeled inside as Aizen's power halted him and brought him very slowly to his knees.

____

"I know that you despise me right now," Aizen said calmly into his an angrily flushed earlobe, "You are beside yourself with wanting to get away, but you are not thinking clearly, and going back now would only get you killed."

____

"Th-then...that would give you what you want right now, wouldn't it?" Gin seethed, "So, why are you holding me back? Let me go if you think I'm just going to die."

____

"Sorry," Aizen said in that same calm voice, "but unfortunately for you, you are more useful to me alive than dead right now."

____

Gin's distressed eyes caught sight of the slight rounding of his belly and a shudder raked his slender body.

____

"Y-you!" he said unsteadily, "You are doing something to me, aren't you? You brought me here to study what that twelfth division maniac did to me and you couldn't resist experimenting on me yourself!"

____

"I didn't do anything to you," Aizen corrected him, "I did examine the chamber that Kurotsuchi Mayuri placed in your body, but I did not do any experimentation of my own."

____

"Then, how do you explain me being bathed? Waking up naked? Your semen in me!"

____

"Are you so sure it was me?" Aizen asked, "I am, it seems, having trouble making sense of what happened after I left you in that room."

____

"What are you talking about? If someone came here, why would they just rape me and leave? You're insane! Now, let me go! I'm leaving!"

____

"May I remind you," Aizen said coldly, intensifying his reiatsu until Gin was gasping for breath, "that you have released the seal on my powers and I am now stronger than you? You have no choice but to submit to me, Gin."

____

The silver-haired man loosed a final gasping sob and collapsed at Aizen's feet. The elder shinigami immediately lowered his reiatsu and lifted Gin's unconscious form into his arms, carrying him back into his room and laying him down in his bed. He spent several minutes placing careful bindings on Gin's wrists, ankles and at his waist, then moved methodically around the small house, placing the protections and defenses he had meant to before.

____

_I don't know what happened last night, I must confess. But it can't be as Gin said, because if someone did enter the house, why indeed, just assault Gin and leave? Gin was right about that. Something else happened._

____

He finished with the house defenses, then walked back to Gin's room and sat down next to his former lover. As Gin slept, Aizen's hands opened his yukata, then he examined the unconscious man and took a sample of the small bit of leaking fluid from his inner thigh. He left the room and moved on to his laboratory, where he ran a DNA test on the retrieved semen, then he compared it to a sample of his own DNA. The result made his eyes widen in surprise.

____

"I see. Something made us lose our senses last night and we did have sex. I don't remember doing so and neither does Gin. But it is suspicious..."

____

He frowned as he considered the facts.

____

_I was being held in Muken after a trial and sentencing, but Gin was supposed to be dead. Yet, not only was he not dead, Kurotsuchi Mayuri was experimenting on him and Gin also was being held in Muken, although it appears only a limited number of people knew he was there. He was never given a trial, which they should have given him if they found him alive, so why the secrecy?_

____

_What is special about Gin?_

____

He considered the question silently, walking back to Gin's room and gazing down at his former lover as he slept soundly. He moved closer, sitting down again and laying his hands on Gin's bare belly, scanning the area and frowning as he felt something different this time. He froze for a moment, then looked closer, his eyes rounding and his expression one of fascination as he studied the small cluster more intently.

____

"We have made a new soul?" he whispered, "Gin is pregnant? But why would...?"

____

He swiftly abandoned the idea of the Gotei wanting his powers to continue in a child, but reeled as he tried to imagine their thinking.

____

_But I do not know if Kurotsuchi taichou was doing this under orders or if he was just playing god on his own. Maybe he wanted to harness my power or..._

____

He returned to his laboratory and gathered several devices, then walked back to Gin's room and conducted a deeper investigation. With each moment, he grew more fascinated.

____

_This is not as simple as us making a child. There is something more going on here. But it will take time to unravel..._

____

_And it is worrisome that it appears whatever that man did, Gin and I were both overcome by it. I must not let myself be taken over like that again. Gin is securely bound, but I am going to have a harder time containing myself. I suppose that I could drug myself so I cannot move. I am immortal, so I take no risk in doing that. I must do something._

____

He paused as Gin stirred and started to wake, gazing quietly at him as the silver-haired man gained cognizance and realized that he had been bound to his bed. His eyes opened slightly and met Aizen's with unbridled hatred, growing even more hateful as he sensed that his reiatsu had been sealed away.

____

"You are being much more careful," Gin observed, "more like yourself."

____

"That should tell you something about what happened here last night."

____

"You mean when you raped me?" Gin asked indignantly.

____

"I did not rape you," Aizen corrected him, "The sex we had was...not consented to by either of us, to my knowledge. Did you say you have no memory of lying with me?"

____

"I don't remember anything! You made me unconscious, remember?" Gin spat.

____

"I do," Aizen confirmed, "But Gin, didn't it seem strange to you that I did not bind you in any way, despite bringing you here against your will?"

____

Gin gave him a mystified look and said nothing.

____

"And aren't you curious as to why a person as careful as me would not create barriers around this place, if not to keep others out, to keep you in?"

____

"What does that matter? You had sex with me while I was unconscious!"

____

"We were both essentially unconscious, from what I can tell," Aizen explained, "Apparently, you were not alone in being tampered with by that fool scientist in Muken."

____

"You are saying that he wanted us to have sex? Why would he do that?" Gin asked, shaking his head.

____

He frowned down at the bump on his belly where the chamber was concealed. He looked back at Aizen and his eyes opened wide, revealing a look of distress unlike he had ever seen the silver-haired man wear.

____

"Gin?"

____

"He...? That man...?" Gin stammered.

____

"I am sure that is not the whole of the situation, but yes, it seems that Kurotsuchi Mayuri was using me to impregnate you."

____

_He doesn't need the whole truth right now...after all, if having my child is enough to scare Gin like this, then whatever Kurotsuchi really planned might unhinge him completely._

____


	3. Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gin comes face to face with the conflict in his heart over Aizen.

"You should eat something," Aizen said, leaning over Gin and placing several electrodes on his bared chest and abdomen, then turning to examine the readings on the monitor he was connected to, "You won't do yourself or our child any favors by slowly starving the two of you. Go on. I brought food, and I left enough slack in your bonds to permit that much movement. Eat, Gin."

"Are you trying to deceive me into thinking that you really care what happens to me?" Gin said in a distant tone, "I'm not stupid, Sousuke. You only care about keeping me alive so you can study the thing you put inside me."

Aizen arched a disapproving eyebrow.

"That is no way to talk about our child, Gin. And I think you are aware that if you do not eat, I will only be forced to feed you through a needle. This way will be much more comfortable for you. You should stop being so stubborn and eat."

Gin considered silently for a moment, then moved one hand enough to dislodge the food tray from his lap. He watched without changing his expression as the tray toppled from his lap and crashed to the floor.

"Unwise," Aizen reprimanded him solemnly, only continuing his examination without meeting Gin's slitted eyes, "but I understand. It's not easy realizing that you have lost all freedom to control your own destiny. But this is a result of your own choices. You...do see that, don't you, Gin?"

"Are you saying I chose to be used by that horrible, maniacal scientist? That I wanted to be raped and impregnated by you?"

"You know very well I didn't rape you, Gin. Neither one of us was in control. Some mechanism caused us to submit to whatever programming Kurotsuchi Mayuri instilled in us. I am working to discover exactly what he did and what methods he used, but it will go more smoothly if you cease your efforts to gradually destroy yourself. Believe me, I want you to die as much as you want to die right now. I just can't accommodate our mutual wishes until I get to the bottom of this."

"I don't care what you do," Gin said wearily, "Don't you understand what's happened? Soul Society has been destroyed. She is probably dead...not that she wasn't half dead inside after what you did to her."

Aizen paused and gave him a curious look.

"Is that what your strange behavior is all about?" he asked, frowning, "That I took a piece of her soul to feed to the hougyoku? Is she really that important to you, Gin? That's very odd, considering the lack of interest you have in maintaining bonds with most people."

"She was different."

"Different how?" Aizen inquired, "You were...in love with her?"

"No," Gin said, closing his eyes for a moment, "She was my friend."

Aizen smiled in amusement.

"I didn't know snakes had friends, Gin. How very sentimental of you...and how very foolish. You should have known better."

"I should have known better about a lot of things," Gin said cryptically, earning another intensely curious look from Aizen.

"Can I ask you something else?" he inquired, pausing in his explorations, "Why didn't you just ask me to return what I took? You certainly could have, given that you became my lover, at least in body? Were you that afraid I would figure out you were lying to me?"

"I wasn't afraid," Gin answered softly, "I just didn't believe that you ever really loved me. You wouldn't have given that part of her soul back if I'd asked for it. You would have held it over my head and used it to manipulate me."

"Ah, a perspective only a truly gifted manipulator would have, ne?" Aizen said mockingly, "You haven't changed at all, have you?"

"Not as much as I would have liked," Gin admitted, "Rangiku did make me feel things other people didn't. I thought I could be different if I could just have her be the way she was before."

"What do you mean?" Aizen asked, glancing at him appraisingly, "Even without that piece of her soul, Rangiku became a fukutaichou. She had to be very talented to do that. Are you angry because it denied her a bankai she could have had?"

"I am angry because it broke something in her," Gin said icily.

"What are you talking about?" Aizen chided him, "She was always charming and gregarious. That never changed, not before, nor after. She was the same person. You just looked at her differently. It may have been me who took a piece of her soul, but it was you who couldn't see her the same way. You do see that, don't you?"

"No, she wasn't the same," Gin insisted, "She tried to be the same, but there was something in her eyes. She could still smile, but it was always there inside her eyes."

"What was there?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't particularly," Aizen admitted, "but if it will settle you enough to take better care of yourself, I could consider indulging you."

Gin's blue eyes opened and fixed on him directly.

"What are you saying?" he demanded, "You know she's probably dead. It's too late to think you can restore her..."

Gin went suddenly silent, staring as Aizen's hand loosed the tie on his yukata, baring his front and revealing the hougyoku. He paled visibly at the sight of the crystalline orb, his mind firing back to the moment Aizen had attacked him and taken it back.

_But there was one small, stolen moment when I held it in my hand, and it whispered the possibilities into my mind. It could restore her. It could finally give back what he had taken from her. That's all I wanted, but the hougyoku teased me to try to lure me into wanting more. I realized then how dangerous it is._

"You know the power of the hougyoku, Gin," Aizen reminded his spellbound captive, "Even just being close to it can cause it to manifest your desires."

Gin looked back at him in silence for a moment, then his head bowed and his eyes nearly closed again.

"I also know that for the hougyoku to grant a person's desire, that desire must be possible. Rangiku was caught up in the Vandenreich's assault. Do you really think, given Ywach's plans, they would have left her alive? They wanted all of the shinigamis dead! And if she is dead, she can't be..."

Gin paused as the hougyoku flared suddenly, filling his widening eyes with bright white light until everything around him disappeared.

_He reappeared at the top of a white pillar, looking down on two fallen shinigamis and a small female sternritter. The quincy bent over the two shinigamis, her power seeping into them and making their skin turn dark. She laughed at the two as she worked at transforming them, filling them with her blood and tainting them. Finally, she touched them to wake them, and the two climbed to their feet, their eyes empty._

"Rangiku!" Gin howled, shattering the restraints that held him down and surging to his feet.

"Gin, stop!" Aizen commanded him.

He followed as Gin threw himself at the balcony doors and surprised Aizen again by breaking through the heavy barrier.

"Gin!"

Aizen flash stepped after him, catching the crazed shinigami around the waist as he landed on the ground outside their hideout.

"Stop it! Let go of me, you bastard! They're killing her!" Gin screamed frantically, "I have to...!"

"It's too late," Aizen said, making Gin's body stiffen under his hands, "Gin, I saw what you did."

"She isn't dead!" Gin insisted, "That quincy...d-did something to her. It...!"

"If it transformed her in some way, then she is as good as dead already. And there is nothing you could do if you did reach her. You can't cure her, Gin. Our only hope is to remain here and get to the bottom of what Kurotsuchi Mayuri was trying to do."

"He was just a creepy scientist playing games!" Gin objected, struggling furiously.

Aizen sent a throb of subduing kido through Gin's body, making him shudder and go weak in his enemy's arms.

"Kurotsuchi Mayuri knew about the Vandenreich," Aizen corrected him, "and prior to the beginning of the war, he certainly would have been attempting anything he could to come up with something to counter them."

"How could making you rape me and get me pregnant save anyone from those monsters!" Gin panted uncomfortably, still trying to move, but hindered by the restrictive kido, "You're crazy! You just want me to give up and let you do what you want! I won't do it, Sousuke. I'm not doing anything for you!"

Another shock of kido jolted Gin's body, making him go limp and silent in Aizen's embrace. Aizen lifted him gently and carried him back inside. He laid Gin carefully in bed, pausing to heal the bruises on his wrists and arms he had gotten from straining against his bonds and smashing into the barrier.

"Such foolish and desperate behavior," he mused, "Coming from you, it's surprising. But then, I did register in my analysis that the hormones in your body are at intense levels. I'm sure that's what is affecting your emotions, though it is a little touching how you do seem to really care about her. I didn't think you had it in you to love anyone, Gin...not as a friend and not as a lover. To know you can is...somewhat tantalizing...dangerous."

He thought back again to the moment when he had encountered Gin outside their bedroom in Las Noches, shedding tears.

_If you were conflicted like that, then, could you have really loved me?_

_An enemy who hurt your friend, Gin?_

_Did you abandon your hatred for that time in my arms and really surrender to love? To me?_

_And what would it take to make you love me again?_

_If we went back to that moment..._

He invoked his power before he quite realized he had, carrying them out of the calm, quiet hideout, through the dark cavern and into the pale sands of Hueco Mundo. Together, they appeared as they had been, that night long before, wild-eyed and their bodies wrapped tightly around each other as they made love. They fell into a sweaty tangle of damp bodies, abandoned clothing and tangled sheets, quickly dropping off together. And as before, Gin woke first, and walked outside, onto the balcony, where he stood with his body stiffened and tears leaking onto his face.

Aizen sat up in bed and looked around. He found Gin's shape outside the balcony doors, his body barely covered in his white yukata that was flapping in the night breezes. He approached Gin from behind on silent feet and slipped his arms around the silver-haired man, making him gasp and try to brush away the tears.

"Gin?" he whispered into his lover's blushing ear.

Gin went perfectly still and breathless, his blue eyes opening and looking up at the crescent moon.

"Will you tell me what made you do that?" he asked curiously, "Why were you shedding tears? That's not like you...not at all like you, my little snake. Don't you know that snakes don't cry, Gin?"

"Perhaps I've let you get so much inside me that I'm not myself anymore," Gin answered, keeping his eyes on the moon, "Maybe by being close to you, I've changed."

_I remember that I told him I didn't believe he'd ever really change, and that I loved the snake he was, everything he was. Yes, even knowing he would betray me, I let myself love him, and maybe, because I did, Gin could love me back._

_But what if I had answered him differently?_

_What if...?_

"Then," he went on, capturing Gin's chin and gazing down into his widened eyes, "if you've changed, I will love the man you are now. And if you are different tomorrow, then I will change too. And for all of eternity, you and I will evolve together, Gin, if that is what we want. If that is the destiny we choose."

He felt a tremor in the hands that held on to him.

"Sousuke, if I promise to always stay with you, will you...do something for me?" Gin asked.

_He never asked me for anything before. Could he have been ready to tell me? If I had said the right words, would Gin have...?_

"What is it that you want, Gin?" he asked carefully, "You know you only need to ask me and it will be done if it can be."

Gin shivered and swallowed hard.

"Sh-she doesn't mean anything to you, but she's important to me."

A smile crept onto Aizen's face.

"You want me to spare Rangiku?" he asked, "I know she was your friend."

"I want you to spare her, Sousuke," Gin requested, looking up at him with strangely vulnerable eyes, "But I want something more...and if you give me this, I will swear to love and obey you forever."

"Go on," Aizen said, teasing Gin's lips with his.

Gin hesitated, shivering again and clenching him fiercely.

"Give it back to her!" he managed in a harsh whisper, "Give it back to her, Sousuke!"

Aizen tore himself out of the illusion and gazed down at Gin's unconscious form. He watched in silence as his former love slept, Gin's words from the illusion repeating in his mind.

_And what would have happened if I had given it back to her that very night? Aizen wondered, She would have been spared and healed, and Gin? Would he have turned back from his quest to kill me? Would we have remained lovers instead? Would he have followed me all of the way?_

He realized suddenly that Gin's eyes had opened and were looking up at him questioningly. He looked down at his unbound body and gave Aizen a confused look.

"Why did you do that?" he asked cautiously, "Why did you leave me untied?"

Aizen considered the question quietly for a moment.

"Where would you go?" he asked calmly, "The Vandenreich has conquered Soul Society. They will execute any remaining shinigamis of any reasonable power and they will move on to the royal realm. She is gone, Gin. You know that."

Gin's eyes went back into slits and he turned his head away.

"But," he went on, slipping a hand into Gin's and making it quiver uncertainly, "I will make you a promise. If you cooperate with me, if you give me your perfect obedience and assist me in completing what Kurotsuchi Mayuri began, then if Rangiku somehow survives or can be revived, I will restore he completely."

He squeezed Gin's hand and captured his chin, drawing Gin's eyes back to lock on his.

"I will give her back _everything_ , Gin."

Gin stared at him breathlessly for several long moments, then shook his head and lowered his eyes.

"You're awful, Sousuke," he whispered brokenly, "To use an empty promise like that to..."

"It isn't an empty promise," Aizen assured him, "Think about it. The Gotei was looking for a means to stop Ywach. They failed to do that. But we have all we need to succeed at what they could not. Help me do this, Gin. Help me to overcome Ywach and I can become Soul King. Once that happens, I will have the ability needed to restore her, just the way she was...just the way you remember her."

"You're just going to use me and kill me," Gin concluded miserably, "You have no reason to carry through on what you say. You just want me to cooperate."

"I could force you," Aizen agreed, "but I don't think I want to."

"Cooperation is much easier," Gin said bitterly, "and it's fun, isn't it? When you earn someone's trust and then stab them in the back? Or actually, it was in the heart that you stabbed me, Sousuke."

Gin sucked in a surprised breath as Aizen's hands yanked him close and held them barely apart, with their lips nearly touching.

"You stabbed me in the heart too," he said icily.

Gin quivered under his painfully tight grip.

"I didn't want to," he confessed in a whisper, "I mean, I did, but..."

He flinched as Aizen's hands relaxed slightly and his brown eyes met Gin's.

"There was a moment between us, wasn't there?" Aizen asked in a softer voice, "A moment when, if I had said the right thing, you would have abandoned your plans to betray me...isn't that right, Gin?"

Gin stiffened and made a sound of distress.

"It is true, isn't it?" Aizen asked, teasing Gin's lips with his, "That night I found you crying, you were crying because you couldn't decide what to do...whether to take your revenge for her or to abandon it for me."

"I wasn't going to...!"

"But you were, weren't you?" Aizen pressed, sweeping his tongue across the length of Gin's frowning mouth, then plunging inside before he could object, "You wanted to forget your hatred of me and stay with me, but you were conflicted because it meant Rangiku would never have back that piece of her soul."

"Why are you talking about things that don't matter anymore?" Gin asked, pulling away from him, "She is gone, Sousuke. I know that quincy killed her. And if I help you become king, then you will only kill me too. You already promised me that."

"Now, I will promise you this," Aizen said, taking Gin by the arms and forcing their eyes to meet squarely, "If you cooperate completely, if you help me to overcome the quincy king, then when I am king, I will spare you, and I will restore Rangiku."

"Why would you bother?" Gin asked unhappily, "You can force me to cooperate and become king anyway, without having to give me anything? Why are you doing this, Sousuke? What do you want from me?"

"I want what I've always wanted from you," Aizen said dulcetly, running his fingers through Gin's silver hair and keeping their eyes locked, "I want what you were ready to promise me that night, when you cried after I made love to you. I want your love and your obedience...your complete and undying devotion to the very end!"

"N-n..."

Aizen's fingers touched his lips, freezing him in place.

"Your answer...is yes," he hissed softly, claiming Gin's lips forcefully and pushing him down on the bed.

And whatever objection he might have been trying to raise, Gin relaxed under the weight of Aizen's body, opening his mouth and kissing back, tearing at their clothes and raising his hips eagerly as their bodies were joined.

 _How did he get back inside me?_ Gin wondered dazedly, _Not just inside my body, but inside everywhere, the way it felt when we were together before? Why can't I resist him? Why is it that I can't care anymore if he does plan to kill me? All I want is to feel him inside me...in my body, in my heart, in my soul. Who lets that kind of darkness in willingly?_

Gin's mind went blank as Aizen's body shuddered atop his, and scathing heat flooded him inside. He didn't know if the scream he loosed was one of passion or horror, only that it made Aizen laugh and hold him more tightly as they collapsed together in a wanton tangle on the bed.

_Oh kami, what have I done?!_


	4. Ghost of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quincies infiltrate Aizen's hideout and find Gin.

Gin woke well before dawn to find himself having been moved to the bed in Aizen's bedroom, but curiously alone and wrapped warmly in soft blankets. It might have been the most comfortable he had ever felt, but the sensation ended quickly as nausea welled up suddenly, sending him charging, still naked, from the bed and into the bathroom, where he dropped onto his knees and emptied his stomach violently. He gasped and heaved a few times, holding his belly with one hand and rubbing gently, his head swimming and spots dancing in front of his eyes. His body went numb and everything seemed to disappear for a while. He thought he might have heard Aizen's voice and felt himself lifted, but his mind remained in a haze and he didn't resist as darkness wrapped around him and his awareness faded again. He woke to feel warm hands caressing his abdomen and cracked open an eye very slightly to find Aizen fully dressed and leaned over him, infusing his belly with reiatsu that seemed to make the feeling of sickness go away. He kept his body limp and pretended to sleep while Aizen finished the infusion, then rose and left him alone in the room.

Gin waited for several minutes, then sat up in the bed and looked around. He found that a tray of food had been placed at his bedside, and a soft growl sounded in his empty abdomen. Sighing in resignation, he took the tray onto his lap and ate, looking out through the sliding glass door, into the gardens behind the house. Finding himself still alone when he finished eating, he slipped out of the bed and walked to the closet, where he found a yukata and robe his size and slowly dressed, his mind unusually aimless. He unlocked the sliding glass door and made a little sound of surprise as it opened.

 _But it's not completely surprising_ , he chided himself, _Sousuke knows I have nowhere to go, and I can feel that there is a strong barrier keeping me from leaving the property. Letting me into the gardens will just give me fresh air and a place to walk a little. It's to keep me healthy while I play guinea pig, carrying whatever this really is inside me. Yes, Kurotsuchi Mayuri is a man almost as monstrous as Sousuke. He wouldn't just enable Sousuke and me to have a child. There is something else going on, and I am sure Sousuke knows it._

_None of that matters to me..._

He tried briefly to close his eyes and reach out to sense Rangiku's reiatsu, but found nothing familiar except Aizen's presence somewhere on the other side of the precipice world.

_He's gone back to Soul Society? I wonder why. He's probably learning the situation there and looking for more information about what Kurotsuchi Mayuri did to me. It makes sense, I suppose._

Gin walked slowly around the gardens, breathing in deeply and feeling much improved as the food he had eaten warmed him inside and the sight and smell of the bright flowers cheered him slightly.

_I can't feel completely at ease because I know that, even though I can't see it right now, Soul Society has been destroyed. I know I felt Yamamoto soutaichou's death. It must be horrid there. I wonder if it bothers Sousuke even a little. I doubt it. He is only focused on what he can take from the situation. He already said it. He wants to be king. With the Gotei 13 in ruins, he may get what he wants without a fight...although, there is one person who will fight him for it..._

He felt a genuine shiver inside as he remembered meeting Ywach.

_The quincy king is the only one I've ever met who was darker at heart than Sousuke. While Sousuke always wanted control of the three worlds, Ywach wanted to put everything in a cycle of creation and destruction so that he could constantly have a collection of souls to eat to sustain himself. Yes, that man is scarier than Sousuke._

A little shiver went through Gin as he heard a small sound somewhere inside the house. Sensing that Aizen was in Soul Society, he crept back to the sliding glass door and went inside.

 _There are barriers all around this place_ , he reminded himself, _Sousuke doesn't want me dead. He's too curious to find out exactly what that mad scientist was trying to grow inside me. My imagination is just getting away with me._

But as he entered the house, he heard another sound he was sure had to be a soft footstep in the area of the kitchen.

 _How could anyone get inside here?_ he wondered, _And who would want to? Who would know we're here? Could Kurotsuchi have placed a tracking device on me?_

Gin swallowed hard, looking around for anything that could be used as a weapon. Finding nothing, he slipped back out into the gardens, closing the door behind him, and climbed up into one of the trees. He concealed himself as best he could and waited. His heart skipped and beat faster as he heard voices and saw two men in white uniforms step out into the gardens.

"He should be here," one of the men said, "The king foresaw that Aizen would bring him here."

"Then, if his majesty saw him here, he is here. We have to find him unless we want to meet with his majesty's extreme displeasure."

"He is slippery. Look carefully."

Gin waited until the two returned to the house, then moved around to the back side of the tall tree that faced away from the house.

_Thank kami I have no reiatsu flow right now, or they would already have had me! Why do the quincies want me? Did they learn about Kurotsuchi's experiment?_

He felt another jolt inside as the door into the gardens opened again, and the two men walked outside. They searched the area methodically, poring over every inch that laid within the boundaries Aizen had set.

 _They are too good at this,_ Gin reasoned, _They are going to find me. But it doesn't sound like they want to kill me. I don't have much time left before they find me on their own, so I think, perhaps, the better thing to do would be to give them something they aren't expecting._

A sly smile crawled onto Gin's face, and he slid down to the lowest branch of the tree, waiting until the men were nearly beneath it, then dropping down in front of the two and greeting the men with an amused grin.

"Ah," he sighed resignedly, "It looks like you boys have found me. Tell me, did you enjoy our little game of hide and seek?"

"We aren't here to play games," the darker haired of the two said sternly, "I am Officer Arnell of the Sternritter army and we have been sent to bring you back to his majesty, King Ywach!"

"Is that so?" Gin said, frowning, "Ywach-sama wants to see me? How does he even know I am alive? Did he find the information in Kurotsuchi's files? And even if he did know I was alive, how did he know I was here?"

The lighter haired quincy spat on the ground.

"His majesty doesn't need to sneak around looking for files."

"No," Gin agreed, smirking, "he has little dogs like you to do that, doesn't he?"

Gin gasped as the darker haired quincy surged forward and grabbed him by the throat, shoving him roughly back against the tree.

"Y-you know, you really shouldn't damage m-me," Gin chided the man, "Doesn't your king want to take me as his prisoner?"

"Arnell!" the second man snapped, "Release him now!"

Gin coughed and panted for a few moments, recovering as the angry quincy released him and stepped back.

"Ichimaru Gin," said the lighter haired officer, "You are hereby claimed as King Ywach's property! You will submit at once and accompany us back to Silbern to await removal to the royal realm!"

"The royal realm?" Gin mused, "You mean, he has already killed the king and taken control? That is quite a feat, isn't it?"

"Shut up and come with us!" Arnell said angrily.

"Very well," Gin said, making the two quincies pause and stare at him curiously.

Gin laughed.

"Well, didn't your king also know that Aizen Sousuke was keeping me prisoner here?" he asked, grinning more widely, "I appreciate Ywach-sama freeing me, and I would be pleased to accompany you to Silbern."

"Y-you...really?" Arnell stammered, looking confused, "You are coming willingly?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Gin asked the stunned men, "I am obviously without powers and I know that Soul Society has fallen. Aizen is a beast who is trying to use me for some foul experiment. I have no reason to stay with him. Of course I will go with you. You only needed to ask."

"Ahem," the lighter haired man said, recovering himself, "then come this way."

Gin sucked in a surprised breath as the man made an odd motion with his hand, and a swirl of blackness began to well up around it.

"I do hope there is plenty to eat where we are going and not just military rations," Gin commented, stepping forward with the two, "I am starving!"

"Eh, Aizen has been mistreating you?" the lighter haired man asked, frowning, "Were you injured? We have good healers at Silbern."

"Oh, he didn't want me physically injured," Gin chuckled, "He just found a way to impregnate me and I can't seem to get enough to eat. He's also a terrible cook!"

"Ah, I see. Well, we will see you are comfortable and well fed. Come along now. His majesty is busy with the war, but we have been ordered to take you to Silbern and make sure you are kept well."

"Oh good. I was getting awfully bored here. Thank you, boys."

The three started forward, then skidded to a stop as a bright light flashed and Aizen appeared suddenly in front of them. The quincy officers reacted immediately, Arnell grabbing Gin roughly around the throat and the lighter haired man attacking instantly. The two quincies gasped in dismay as Aizen seemed not to move, but a moment later, disappeared and reappeared behind the attacking quincy and cutting his body cleanly in half.

"Brennan!" screamed Arnell, backing away and pulling a knife that he placed against Gin's throat, "Don't come any closer! I will kill him! I swear I will!"

"Erm," Gin managed, choking slightly, "what do you think your king w-will have to say about th-that? By whose hand do you want to die?"

Gin felt the small swell of Aizen's power and then a wrenching feeling. He found himself suddenly gripped tightly in Aizen's arms, watching as the quincy backed away, dragging a copy of Gin with him.

"I'm taking him to the king!" Arnell hissed, "I don't know how you managed to be in two places at once, but know this. His majesty is about to reach the royal realm, and when he does, his powers will be completely released. He will see everything!"

Arnell made a sound of surprise and pain as Aizen's sword sank into his body from behind. He gave a guttural laugh and dragged his knife across the throat of the copy of Gin he held, making blood spurt from the illusion-Gin's slender throat. The copy's legs collapsed and he fell with the quincy onto the ground.

"Well, they sure made a mess," Gin commented, his heart still pounding, "Too bad. I rather liked walking out here."

"Did they hurt you?" Aizen asked in a strangely stiff tone.

"Um, no," Gin said, shaking his head and looking on in confusion as Aizen moved around him, loosening his clothing to examine him more closely, "They didn't want to kill me. They only wanted to take me back to their king. They knew who I am...and that I survived. They knew where I was. How did they know, Sousuke? Were they watching Kurotsuchi taichou that closely?"

"Ywach doesn't have to watch that closely, although he does have spies, and they were watching the Gotei 13 officers closely."

"Then..."

"He has a power that, when it is fully freed, will let him see into the future. Right now, while his vision is obscured, he sees flashes of what will be. That is why he was able to discern you were still alive and where you were."

"You mean, where I was being imprisoned," Gin said skeptically, "You know, I'll be honest with you, Sousuke and just tell you. I wish they had taken me back to their palace! Anything is better than being forced to stay here with you!"

"Oh, but I thought we were beginning to understand each other better," Aizen said, smirking slightly, "You were lovely last night, Gin, crawling all over me and so anxious for me to be inside you. What happened?"

"What happened?" Gin huffed, "All that happened is that I woke up and came to my senses! It doesn't matter what you promise me, Sousuke, it doesn't! You don't intend to keep a single promise. I know that. You play with my heart, dangling the idea that you can somehow save Rangiku! And then, when I have a chance to go and try to save her myself you...!"

Gin sucked in a shocked breath as Aizen's hands grabbed his upper arms, and his furious brown eyes glared down into Gin's widened ones.

"Is that why you were behaving like that?" he seethed, "For her, you would endanger yourself and take the chance of getting killed? Do you care nothing for your own life anymore, Gin?"

"I HAVE NO LIFE!" Gin howled, tearing away from Aizen and backing up a step towards the house, "All I have is her! I have to find her!"

"You have to find her?" Aizen repeated incredulously, "In your condition and with no powers? How in kami's name did you think you were going to do that? How, Gin?"

He flash stepped forward, recapturing him, and stared down into Gin's eyes, watching as unbidden tears welled up in the corners. For a moment, he remained silent, then a soft growl issued from deep in his chest.

"She is dead."

Gin stiffened.

"No..."

"Rangiku is dead," Aizen repeated coldly, "I left here so that I could go back to Soul Society to learn what was happening. While there, I also inquired into her whereabouts."

Gin remained frozen and staring, his body beginning to shake under Aizen's gripping hands.

"She is a zombie, Gin. What you saw is the truth of things. Rangiku is dead. She is beyond help. If you did find her, she would only have killed you."

"I hate you," Gin sobbed, sliding onto his knees and putting his face in his hands, "I really hate you, Sousuke!"

"Come Gin," Aizen said quietly, taking a pale, shaky hand in his and pulling gently, "We have to leave here. The quincy king will reach the royal realm soon, and he will have full use of his abilities."

"I don't care. And if he does, why does running make any difference? He will just figure out where we've gone and send more people to..."

"I think he will know that he can't get past me while I am aware of his plans and actively protecting you."

"Oh," Gin sniffed, wiping his eyes, "this is how you protect me?"

"Enough," Aizen said calmly, wrapping an arm around Gin's shoulders and helping him back onto his feet, "Come with me."

Gin looked back at the collapsed quincies, tears welling up in his eyes again at having failed in his plans to use the men to reach Rangiku.

_I don't believe him. She may be a zombie, but if they made her into a zombie, maybe there is still a way..._

He blinked, sending another tear sliding down his face. To his surprise, Aizen's fingertip captured it, and he paused and studied Gin more closely.

"I keep thinking it is the pregnancy that is making you so emotional," Aizen commented, "But the more I think about it, the more I see in the past that hinted you had an unnatural affection for that girl. Yet, you claim you're not in love with her?"

"She is just a friend," Gin said wearily, "I told you that."

"You did," Aizen agreed, "I just find your commitment to her unexpected, given how easily you stab other people in the back. I begin to grow jealous and a bit happy she's dead. Tell me, Gin. What did that woman ever do for you that would make you walk unprotected and with no powers into the heart of the quincy seat of power, just to have a chance to save her?"

"Why do you care?" Gin asked defeatedly, "It doesn't matter. You said she's dead."

"Yes, she is," Aizen agreed, "But now that she is, I am wondering if there is actually a heart in you, and if so, if I will someday find a way into it."

Gin frowned and blinked in surprise.

"What? Why? You don't care about me at all. I know that..."

Gin's eyes opened and rounded as Aizen turned suddenly and gathered him in, capturing his mouth in a long, warm kiss that felt nothing like any he had experienced before. Deep in his belly, the chamber hummed and glowed, making the two men look down at the area in surprise.

"What is that?" Gin whispered.

Aizen captured him under the chin and made their eyes meet, then kissed him again.

"It is a sign that we are not completely without hope," he said calmly.

Gin gazed into his eyes for a long moment, then gave a shuddering sigh.

"That was cruel, Sousuke," he said in a choked voice, "You know I have no one now, and you're taking advantage of that."

"Come, Gin," Aizen said, leading him back into the house, "we need to be gone before more of them come here."


	5. Spaces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizen begins to close in on the reason Kurotsuchi kept Gin alive and used him for experimentation.

_I feel empty_ , Gin thought as his weary mind circled, just beneath sleep, _If I had just stayed dead, I could have been at peace, believing that Kurosaki Ichigo would defeat Sousuke and make him pay for hurting Rangiku. My needs were much simpler then, weren't they? I didn't worry about anything beyond that moment, just undoing that one thing that made me ache inside for all those years. She was my only friend...the only person that I really cared about. As I felt my life force fading, that was my one consolation. She was going to survive and go on with her life, and she was going to forget about me._

_I never expect to be the one to have to go on without her._

_Maybe I should have been wiser. It's not the good people who live unnaturally long lives and constantly defy the hand of death, is it? It's the snakes...the wicked people like me and Sousuke, who take advantage of everything in the worlds around us to keep ourselves going. But stepping on others for our own survival shreds our humanity, doesn't it?_

_Maybe that's why I needed her._

_As long as Rangiku was there, there was something bright and good in my life. There was a person who seemed to light up the place I lived in, even though I couldn't do that, myself. I needed that. Maybe Sousuke has come so far that it doesn't bother him to dwell in complete darkness, but I couldn't take that last step. I couldn't abandon that last piece of my humanity...at least, not until Sousuke callously told me she was gone. I tell myself not to believe him, but I don't feel that lively presence anymore. I know what it should feel like, but I reach out and it isn't there. What is there is empty and black...yes, Sousuke's love is as barren as the hollow world we used to live in. And I fall deeper into that world with each passing moment._

The touch of warm hands on his bare abdomen made Gin begin to rise to the surface, and his eyes opened very slightly, so that he could see the wickedly handsome man leaning over him and study him closely.

_I have known this man since I was a boy, and he has always fascinated me...in a very dark and dangerous way. At first, he wore that kinder face, and truthfully, he was even more scary then, showing kindness and friendliness on the outside, but now and then, betraying the darker beast that laid underneath that gentle mask. I watched as he took them all in, and it felt strangely good, knowing that he couldn't fool me like he did to them. I was smarter than all of them, taking a position close to him and setting him up to die at my hands._

_I was surprised when he first made love to me. But love isn't exactly the right word for what was between us. It was more like dark recognition. It was a demon and his snake lover entwining themselves for mutual enjoyment. We accepted each other completely. It was only when love began to steal its way in that I got scared. That night in Hueco Mundo, I started to see that I was hanging onto Rangiku, but I really shouldn't. She was the last connection to my humanity, but in truth, I had already shed that fine skin, and I was a beast like Sousuke that only dreamed of being innocent again. But focusing my life on revenge took away my innocence. I always knew that in my heart, but I wanted to believe I could go back, if only I gave her back what he took from her._

_There's no going back now._

_I know that now._

Gin sensed the slow retreat of the other man's power and the heavy, seductive gaze that glared down at his resting form. One of the hands that rested on his abdomen slid downward, honing in on his awakening cock and teasing the soft, pale flesh, warming it, making it blush and coaxing Gin's heart into beating faster.

_Why is it like this between us?_

_This man doesn't love anyone. He uses everyone. If he is making love to me, then it is because he wants something...momentary release from his loneliness, a brief connection with pleasure, a light in the darkness, a small amusement, a comfort, a necessary lie...something...but that night in Hueco Mundo, it made me sad because I didn't want any of those things. And I stopped wanting revenge. I wanted Sousuke's heart. I foolishly began to desire his love, and I knew even then how stupid that was. Gaining his heart is just falling into blackness and getting lost there forever. If staying close to him and deceiving him was frightening, then falling in love with him was terrifying. And falling in love with him seemed like choosing him over avenging Rangiku._

_But maybe it wasn't that._

_Maybe...it was just that I started to see that Sousuke was holding on to me, much like I was holding onto Rangiku. He saw through me, and he knew every last inch of me. He appreciated me for exactly who I was. He said he needed to keep something deadly close by him, so that he could evolve and grow. That's why I held on to her. My feelings for her made me grow...stronger, more dangerous, more capable of being deadly so that I could avenge her. To think that Sousuke felt something for me on the level of what I felt for her...and that night in Hueco Mundo, I began to return his feelings..._

_It should have ended when he killed me._

_We looked into each others' eyes in the cold light of day, and he cut me down. I was comforted as I died. I know I did die. What I don't know is how I came back. Did Kurotsuchi use his methods to bring me back or did something else happen? And what was the point of bringing me back? Of using Sousuke to impregnate me? What is inside my body now that Sousuke is so carefully protecting? Is it really a child? I can't believe that. I think it's something more terrifying. And even not knowing what it is, Sousuke is giving his power to it, making it stronger. What is going to happen when it is fully matured? Will it be born like a child? Will it make me shrivel and die as it devours the shell that helped it come to life?_

_So many questions..._

He pushed the questions away for a time, turning his mind to focus on the hands that had begun to pleasure him. And it wasn't long before he was blindly taking refuge in that pleasure, and returning Aizen's affections.

_It isn't love, but at least we are being honest with each other now. Neither one of us has anyone but the other, and while we lie here making love, Soul Society is falling into ruin. Everything that matters is gone. Now, even our dark, dangerous attraction feels like a kind of light. It's really all we have left, isn't it?_

He felt a questing touch on his thigh and opened himself without hesitation. There was a shock of pain as their bodies were roughly joined and they began to move together. His eyes opened wider and looked up into Aizen's, searching for something to connect to.

_He doesn't look like a man who's in love, just a man who is fascinated by something that surprised him. He was sure I was dead and, right now, he is driven to know why. I guess that I should just be glad for that, because if I hadn't made him curious, he would likely have just killed me again. And for some strange reason, even though Rangiku died, I want to live. Maybe it's just instinct. I don't know anymore._

He gave himself over then to the giving and taking of pleasure, pushing away the complicated things and focusing on what was simplest...the body on top of his that wanted nothing more than this connection with him, and his own body that wanted the pleasure that Aizen offered.

_Sex is so much simpler than love..._

He had almost convinced himself that it was that easy, when their entangled bodies entered release together and for just that moment, Aizen's brown eyes opened wide and softened beautifully.

_It is just sex, just mutual pleasure, isn't it?_

_But if it is, what did I just see in Sousuke's eyes?_

He strained his mind to understand, but was too wrapped up in the lovely, hot throbs of climax to think clearly anymore. He only knew that he felt dangerously alive, and that his heart was beating fast because it wanted to stay alive.

_But if whatever is inside me doesn't kill me, then Sousuke will. Either way, it will end the same for me, won't it?_

He tried to focus on Aizen's eyes again, but they had closed and he looked to be nearly asleep and smiling blissfully. Gin caught his breath in surprise as something leaked out of one eye and onto his cheek.

 _It's just the gestation that's causing it_ , he lied to himself, turning his head so that Aizen wouldn't see.

He was jolted again as a warm hand captured his face and turned it back, then warm lips brushed along the path his falling tear had taken. Aizen's hand found his and laced their fingers together, and his deep voice sounded soothingly in Gin's ear.

"Don't worry, little snake. You are safe here, for now."

_It's a lie...but I'll take that lie because I have nothing left._

_...nothing at all..._

_...but him._

_Sousuke._

XXXXXXXXXX

Aizen's dark eyes watched in calm fascination as Gin's body curled wantonly around his, and the silver-haired man gave himself over to sleep.

_This is one of those moments then...much like that night in Hueco Mundo, when his heart opened to me. It reaches out to me again. But there is only pain in accepting such an invitation. Yet, I took his hand and reassured him that this what I want also. Perhaps it is, but it is also unwise. To place my faith, not just in another person, but in one that tried to kill me. To anyone else, it would be insanity. But when death is no longer a possibility, it frees the mind to explore all things. I don't have to trust Gin. He can't hurt me, so loving him isn't dangerous at all. It will be fleeting, I suppose, because he is mortal and I am not, but..._

Aizen paused for a moment, thinking back and studying Gin's resting body curiously. His mind retraced its steps to the moment before, when their connection had caused such a resonance, the chamber within Gin had glowed with power.

 _Ah, our resonance_ , he mused, his fingers seeking the cool orb that remained fused with him, _It is altering his body, his reiatsu...isn't it? As we bond, I share with him my power. It flows into him, and the hougyoku reads our desires and trickles into him, slowly making him over into a being more like me. He is transcending._

_The only question that comes to mind is...will he complete his transcendence, or is this reiatsu within the chamber inside him going to just devour him from the inside, before the process can be completed?_

Aizen was genuinely surprised at the little anxious jolt the thought gave him.

_But Gin has always excited and fascinated me. A scientific mind thrives on anomaly, and Gin is more than that._

He nuzzled Gin's cheek and yielded an affectionate kiss, then exited the bed and walked out onto the balcony outside the room. He gazed quietly up into the field of bright stars, letting their light filter down through his eyes as he thought deeply about everything that had happened.

_I need to know more about what Kurotsuchi Mayuri was doing to Gin. He wanted to grow something powerful...something dangerous. A new soul, yes, and it appears to carry my genetics and Gin's. It may well be a child, but even if that is so, Kurotsuchi had a wicked plan for using that child somehow. What was he intending to make, using that child? And why did he choose Gin? There were other, more powerful shinigamis he could have abducted and used along with me for this. But he appears to have gone out of his way...somehow rescuing Gin from death and using him to do this..._

__

_What was that bastard planning?_

__

His mind returned again to the moment the chamber had flared, humming loudly and brightening with the strength of their resonance.

__

_It suggests that there had to be a powerful resonance for this method to work. And of all of the souls that I've encountered, Gin's is the only one to resonate with me that way. It makes sense, I suppose. Resonances don't always mean two people will fall in love. Some of the greatest and most powerful connections have occurred in enemies who ended up killing each other. There are positive resonances and deadly evil ones._

__

_Which are we now?_

__

He was drawn out of his thoughts as Gin coughed uncomfortably, then jumped awake and hastily exited the bed, heading for the bathroom. Aizen loosed a soft, amused breath and smiled as he abandoned the balcony and followed. He waited patiently as Gin retched several times, then fell back on his knees, swaying dizzily. He dropped down behind him, wrapping his arms around Gin and infusing his aching belly with calming reiatsu.

__

"You are needing these infusions with growing frequency," he observed.

__

He felt Gin shiver under his hands.

__

"Do you think it's going to eat me from inside?" Gin asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

__

"I don't know yet what it will do," Aizen answered, feeling an odd twinge at the brief flash of intense fear that reflected in Gin's eyes, then disappeared.

__

"Eh, I suppose I'm living on borrowed time anyway," Gin sighed flippantly, resting against him as he continued the warm, stabilizing infusion.

__

"I don't think this will kill you," Aizen answered quietly, the fingers on one hand playing with the short, silver strands of his hair.

__

"You don't?" Gin asked, sounding as though he didn't believe a single word, "Really, Sousuke..."

__

"The reason is simple," he explained, nipping at the soft, pale skin of his throat, "If I couldn't kill you, then there isn't much that can."

__

Gin loosed a soft, amused chuckle and curled more comfortably into his arms.

__

"It's just like you to say something arrogant like that," he said, looping his arms around Aizen's shoulders as he lifted him and carried him back out into the bedroom.

__

He laid Gin in bed and tucked him in comfortably.

__

"I have to go back to Soul Society," he told Gin, earning a disapproving frown from the silver-haired man.

__

"Why? Do you really think you'll find anything?"

__

"I will find what I need," Aizen assured him, "It will just take time. Stay here and eat and rest. I will be back."

__

"No," Gin argued, sitting up and glaring at him, "The last time you left me alone, the quincies came to collect me. It isn't enough that I have Kurotsuchi Mayuri using me as a guinea pig and you studying me like a science project, now it seems the quincy king has a use for me too. And you said that he is going to be fully able to see into the future. What if he has seen you'll leave me here now and go back without me? What then?"

__

"Are you afraid, Gin?" Aizen asked, smirking, "You seemed willing enough to go with them before. Or have you realized what a foolish choice that would have been if I allowed it?"

__

"But it isn't a choice of how I want to survive anymore," Gin said, frowning and looking down at his swelling abdomen, "It's becoming a question of how I want to die."

__

Aizen looked back at him in surprise.

__

"Is that really what you think?" he asked, taking Gin's hand in his.

__

"Kurotsuchi Mayuri has no reason to care if I live or die, as long as he learns something from what he does to me. You want revenge. And the quincy king wants us all to die. What do you think, Sousuke?"

__

"I think," Aizen said, bringing Gin's fingers to the hougyoku and letting them touch the smooth surface, "that you have forgotten the function of the hougyoku."

__

"The hougyoku?" Gin mused, "You forget, I held it, even though it was only for a moment, Sousuke. The hougyoku only wants to use our desires to gain something itself."

__

"Yes, it does," Aizen agreed, "but that means that if your desire to live serves the hougyoku, it will help you to survive. That is some amount of reassurance, isn't it?"

__

"And why reassure me?" Gin sighed, pulling his hand away from the hougyoku and looking out the sliding glass doors to where the moon shined brightly overhead.

__

"That is simple," Aizen concluded, "For the hougyoku to work, your desires have to be powerful. And you have always had a powerful will to survive."

__

He paused, thinking carefully, then looked back at Gin with a rising expression of discovery on his face.

__

"What is that look, Sousuke?" Gin asked, frowning.

__

"Gin," Aizen said, sliding into the bed beside him, "do you think that perhaps the hougyoku sensed your will to survive and helped you before?"

__

"But you said that Rangiku took me to the Rukongai and buried me," Gin objected, "And I have no memory after losing consciousness, not until I woke when the quincies attacked. I think what saved me was that dastardly scientist."

__

"Maybe his were the hands," Aizen said, excitement in his voice, "but then, the hougyoku has used others' hands before. It would have been serving both Kurotsuchi's desire for discovery and your will to survive."

__

"And what if that is the case?" Gin asked, "Why does it matter? Whatever this is in me, it is sucking the life out of me. I can feel it! It gets worse by the day!"

__

"I know that, but I don't think it will kill you. Gin...I think that..."

__

He paused, considering.

__

"I need to go now and look for more information."

__

"Then, I am going with you," Gin insisted, "You aren't leaving me here alone again. The next time, you might not be here when those quincies come back for me. And you know damned well they will!"

__

"Well then," Aizen said, smirking, "I suppose we can't have that, can we?"

__

"Then, you'll listen to reason?"

__

"I will take you with me," Aizen agreed, "But you need to rest first."

__

"Oh no, I'm not falling for that!" Gin snapped, scowling petulantly, "You only want me to sleep so that you can abandon me again."

__

"Is that what you really think?" Aizen asked, glaring down into Gin's angry eyes, "Then, let me reassure you, Gin. I am never, ever letting you escape me again."

__

He loosed a throb of sedative reiatsu that sent Gin tumbling into unconsciousness.

__

"Y-you're really horrible, Sousuke!" Gin complained as he succumbed to Aizen's power.

__

"Yes," Aizen agreed, "but there is no way that I will let you set foot in Soul Society as you are now. There is too much at stake."

__

He left the bed and summoned his blade to his hand.

__

"Bankai, Sekentouei, Kyouka Suigetsu," he commanded the sword, touching the tip to Gin's chest, just over his heart, "Sekentouei...world reflection, snares the senses of anyone in the area around the person or thing I protect within it. Anyone who enters here will lose his way and never find you as he walks the endless hallways of this hypnotic enchantment. Rest easy, Gin, nothing will reach you here."

__

He left the house, heading back into the precipice and towards the shattered Soul Society.

__

_I wonder if my suspicions are correct_.

__

_If they are, Gin is the only one who could have been used this way with me._

__

_If I am correct, Kurotsuchi Mayuri was using us to make a transcendent soul infused with the hougyoku's power. What a treacherous man he is._

__

_But he was foolish to let something like this fall into my hands...unforgivably foolish._

__


	6. Mental Labyrinth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gin learns something surprising about Aizen's dark past.

_It feels like I am awake, but I can't feel my body. I just sense that speck of familiar life that is myself. There is another presence here that might have grown more familiar even than my own._

_Yes, him._

_I feel his presence all around me._

_It's as though instead of being left alone within a barrier, I am inside him. Indeed, everything around me radiates with his dark, maddeningly addictive presence. And despite the ice that his heart is made of, everything feels so warm and safe here. Of course, that is only because it serves his needs for me to want to stay here, wrapped in his hypnotic essence, blissfully immobilized and unable to be anything but compliant._

_But compliance was never in my nature._

_Snakes, you see, are slippery. And so, while this place might ooze with contentment, I will not lose my desire to escape it. Nor will I see the elaborate distractions he put in place here. No, I will find the cracks and little openings, because they always exist in places that look impenetrable. And I am adept at finding them._

Gin willed his heavy eyelids to open and found himself immediately mesmerized by his surroundings. He rested on the floor of a dark corridor, but with walls that glowed gently to reveal the path beneath him. And Gin found quickly that he was not enclosed, but that there were openings in four directions. He climbed slowly to his feet, holding a hand to the bump on his abdomen as he studied the paths in each direction.

"They all look he same," he whispered, The breeze from each is scented the same and it feels the same when it touches me."

He breathed slowly, considering.

"Senses," he whispered, "His power overcomes his victim's senses."

Gin's blue eyes closed. He continued to breathe slowly, and to focus on the feel of the corridors that surrounded him.

_It would help if I knew what was at the end of this maze. I would know what I was looking for. It would help to know where I am. Am I still lying in the place where he left me, or am I truly here? What is this place? An illusion, of course, but based on what? If I choose a path, what will I find?_

He turned in a circle, keeping his eyes closed and trying to feel the difference he was sure was there. At first, he could sense nothing to differentiate them. Each path seemed to radiate the same in his mind. He tried again, turning even more slowly, but felt no difference.

_But, maybe that makes sense. I don't know what I'm looking for, so how can I choose a path? I must focus on something. But what?_

"Sousuke," he whispered, opening his eyes.

Gin blinked in surprise as four images of Aizen appeared, one in each direction. The first was a brown-haired and brown-eyed boy, who might have been any boy in the Rukongai, except for the radiant feeling of unnatural power that pulsed and flickered around him. The next seemed to be the gentle scientist, the false vision he had shown everyone before his betrayal. The third was the evil leader of the hollows and the fourth made Gin pause and stare in surprise and wonder.

_A god?_

_This is what he aspired to be? This is not the monstrous thing he became while facing Ichigo. This, then, is his true dream, perhaps? This god does not feel evil._

_Strange._

Gin considered each direction and chose the path where the image of the child stood.

_I know what he was like when he wore the mask of the scientist and when he was the leader of the hollows, but I know nothing of his childhood. Who does? Still, I feel that answers are in this direction. I will go this way for a little bit. I can always turn back if it becomes unpleasant._

Gin moved past the gentle looking boy and stepped into the corridor behind him. The soft radiance of the walls made enough light for him to walk safely, and as he made his way forward, Gin felt curious twinges as he thought about the things that could be in the past of such a man.

_Wickedness must come from somewhere, right? I am a snake and that bothers people. But it was the poverty of my childhood, and that fact that I was abused, both by my father and by others in the village who were physically stronger. My powers grew out of my desire to be able to fight back. I do wonder where Sousuke's came from._

He realized suddenly that something in his environment seemed to be changing, that the corridor had grown misted, and that shapes were forming around him. Gin's vision clouded, and he felt the presence of others. He tried to turn back, only to find that the way behind him had closed. His head turned left and right, only to find that he was now surrounded by the mist that was closing in on all sides.

_He doesn't want me hurt._

The thought came suddenly, and it allowed Gin to relax slightly and take a breath as the scene shifted again. When the mist faded, he found himself standing in a small cottage in the Rukongai, watching as the young boy Sousuke sat at a table with a younger brother and two younger sisters, all of them reading schoolbooks as their mother made supper.

"I'm done!" Sousuke exclaimed, popping up from the table and heading for the back door.

"Sousuke," his mother said, not unkindly, "Will you help Kimiko with her science homework? She said that the essay is difficult and you're a whiz at science."

Sousuke skidded to a stop, frowning for a moment.

"I'm sure Kimiko will be happy to take out the garbage for you tonight to show her gratitude for your help, all right? That way, you will be able to play after supper."

"Okay," the boy Aizen sighed, moving to where his sister was working.

"I don't want to take out the garbage," she muttered, rolling her eyes, "but I do need help, so okay."

She quieted quickly as her brother sat down beside her, picking up the essay she was writing and looking it over.

"This looks good so far," he complimented her, "Your introduction is good and your argument makes sense. You just need to have about four results that support the argument. You have two that look pretty good and you explained them well."

"But I can't think of anymore!" the girl objected, "I can't remember all of when we did the experiment in class. How can anyone remember everything?"

"It's okay," Sousuke said reassuringly, "I'll help."

Kimiko's brown eyes widened and she smiled as she felt the flicker of her brother's power that radiated around her, taking her back to the experiment and moving her slowly through the steps. The effect lasted only moments, but when his power faded, his sister was smiling.

"How do you do that?" she asked wonderingly, "It was like being back there!"

"Sousuke," his mother said, an edge of sternness in her voice, "You weren't giving her the answers, were you? That is not what I asked you to do."

"I wasn't giving Kimiko-chan the answers," Sousuke answered obediently, "I only let her relive the experiment. If she hadn't found the answers, she still wouldn't know them. I was only helping her remember."

His mom's gentle smile returned instantly.

"Good boy," she said approvingly, "Why don't you four go and wash up? Your father will be here…"

She broke off suddenly as the cottage door opened and a tall, green-eyed man who looked like an elder version of the boy, entered alongside an expensively dressed noble and two Central 46 guards.

"We have guests," their mother said, trying to sound calm, "Why don't you go and play outside?"

"We'll need to see the older boy," the noble said sternly.

Their father met Sousuke's eyes and the boy stiffened at the strange look in them.

"Papa?" he said uncertainly.

"It will be fine," his father assured him, "They only need to see your powers, Sousuke. It's all right. Show them."

The boy shivered and bit at his lips nervously.

"How old are you?" the noble asked.

"T-ten years old, sir," Sousuke answered softly.

"And when did you discover you had shinigami powers?"

"What?" the boys asked, blinking, "When did I discover them? I never discovered them. I've always had them."

His mother nodded, smiling.

"Sousuke is a gifted boy. He has always had his powers, even as a baby," she explained, "We kept a limiter on him, as required, until he was eight years old, then we found him a mentor in town. We were thinking of allowing Sousuke to apply for entrance into the shinigami academy. He wants to be a scientist with the twelfth division someday."

"I see," the noble said, off-handedly, "well, we have rules that apply to talents that lie, shall we say, outside the norm. I will need to escort the child to Central 46, where full tests of his abilities will be done and a decision made as to how he will best serve Soul Society."

Sousuke's face paled.

"Do I have to go with them, Mom? Dad?" he asked.

His parents looked at him regretfully.

"It'll only be for a few days, then you'll be back and off to school, just like normal," his father said encouragingly.

"Come, boy," the noble said impatiently, "We need to begin the testing as soon as possible."

Gin shivered as the scene around him faded and another began to form. His eyes widened in surprise and distress as he found himself standing in a Central 46 laboratory and a very faint memory of his own past flashed in front of his eyes.

_He surfaced only long enough to find himself lying on some kind of examination table, looking up into Kurotsuchi Mayuri's crazed eyes and dastardly grin._

_"So, you were able to be brought back. That's fortunate…for me, at least. But you should go back to sleep, unless you like pain._

"N-no!" Gin shouted, snapping back into the new vision of the boy, Sousuke, lying naked and bound on an examination table, his brown eyes clouded and senseless, leaking tears as two men bent over him, examining him closely.

"Can you believe this? The kid's a monster. I've never seen spirit centers like his. Off the fucking charts."

"Clearly, not trainable," said the second man, "Why don't you give the extermination order for his family? I'll put him down. We need to do this before he realizes what he is."

The man reached for a vial and filled a syringe, then moved to inject the fluid into the boy's IV.

"Sorry kid," he said quietly, "It's the rules. Don't worry, you won't suffer. Your family won't either. It'll be quick and painless. Just know that you're dying to protect Soul Society."

The man's hand wrapped around Sousuke's small arm, but before he could add the fatal compound to the IV, he was frozen in place by a golden light that seemed to burst out of the boy's brown eyes and fill his.

"I won't let you!" Sousuke said in a shaky voice, his reiatsu rising under the heavy limiter.

The man's eyes rounded as the limiter suddenly shattered and the golden light seemed to sink down into his bones, freezing him in place. He remained frozen as the boy broke free of the heavy bindings and climbed off the examination table. He approached the frozen man slowly.

"You wanted to kill me before I learned what I am," he hissed, "You were too late. I already know!"

He intensified the power around the man and slowly guided him to the examination table. The man laid down obediently and waited silently, looking up blankly at the ceiling as the boy picked up the syringe he had dropped on the floor.

"I have dreamed of being a taichou someday in the Gotei 13. I wanted to lead the twelfth division because I heard that's where the great scientists serve. It's all I've thought about, day and night, for years. I never hurt anyone, not in all of that time. But, you came and took me, and you called me a monster. I wasn't a monster before, but I'll be one if I have to. Now, suffer the fate you had in mind for me!"

He plunged the needle into the man's arm, then watched quietly as his body shuddered and quivered and his breaths slowly shortened into gasps. He twitched sharply, several times, then let out a final, rattling breath.

The boy turned away, cloaking himself in his power and easily walking past the Central 46 guards. He left the compound and burst into flash steps.

_I have to warn them!_

_Those men will be coming to hurt them. I have to stop them._

He had just reached the edge of town, when he saw black smoke billowing up, into the air from the direction of his home. He pushed himself to his limits, reaching the little house in minutes, only to find it fully involved in flames. Ina panic, he extended his senses, reaching out with his mind to connect with his parents and siblings.

But, he sensed only the dying flame of their extinguished lives as they faded.

Gin felt himself being pulled out of the memory and found himself back at the intersection within the radiant maze. He stared at the image of the boy in front of him, his heart pounding.

_I never knew anything about his childhood. He never talked about any time before he joined the Gotei 13._

_Why?_

_Why did Sousuke let me see this? Or, did he mean for me to see it? Where am I? Am I inside one of his illusions, or is this Sousuke's inner world?_

"Are you enjoying yourself, Gin?" Aizen's voice said suddenly, bringing the silver-haired man crashing back down into his body.

He opened his eyes and found himself lying in a comfortable bed, in a completely different house, this one all too familiar.

_His childhood home._

_Sousuke wanted me to know the reason we came here._

_Why?_

"You still look half-asleep. Are you all right? I can bring you something if you don't feel like getting up."

"I'm fine," he answered, sitting up in the bed and stretching, "I'm just drowsy from being held under your illusions. But, you know that."

"Are you hungry?" Aizen asked again, taking his hand, "Come, there is food."

Gin accepted his hand quietly and walked alongside him, down the hallway, into the kitchen, that had obviously been perfectly restored. He sat down at the table, his mind still seeing the young children there, bending over their schoolbooks.

"Are you all right?" Aizen asked, "You look pale, Gin."

Gin looked back at him and remained silent for a moment.

"You made a point of bringing me here, and you made a point of making sure I understood why," he said finally, "Why did you do that, Sousuke?"

Aizen turned away, walking to the stove and returning with a plate of steaming food that he set in front of Gin. He sat down at the table, in the place he had occupied in the memory Gin had witnessed.

"You want to know why I showed you that memory?" he asked, "I think the answer is obvious. I didn't choose your path for you. You, yourself, decided to follow the path that led to this memory."

"But, you didn't have to offer it," Gin argued, "You never told me any of this before. Why show me now? Why even give me the option to choose that as a path?"

Aizen smiled.

"Misery loves company, I suppose. Or perhaps it is just that I knew if I gave you something to do, you wouldn't be tempted to try to escape while I was gone."

"You succeeded in that," Gin said, smirking, "I have to admit, I was mesmerized at the idea of you being a normal shinigami child."

"Oh, I was never a normal shinigami child," Aizen chuckled, "I think you know that. It's what brought those men to my home. It's what made them so fearful that they murdered my family in cold blood and tried to offer me the same fate."

Gin looked down at the food in front of him.

"And that put you on the path to become the most wicked shinigami," he sighed, "I suppose it makes sense. But it doesn't tell me why you decided to share this with me. You revealed to me that you are someone who no one knows still exists. What do you think the fools in Central 46 would give me in exchange for knowing your true identity?"

Aizen shrugged.

"Maybe you would be given your freedom, if you also helped them to put me back behind bars, Gin. But, would that be something you want? Perhaps the man who wanted me dead for harming Rangiku would enjoy the revenge."

"I'm not turning you in," Gin said, matter-of-factly, "I think we both know that even if I wanted to, I wouldn't live to walk out that door. No, I do still want to live, and…I want to know exactly what it is that I am carrying inside my body. Tell me, Sousuke, what did you learn about that when you went back?"


End file.
